Forgotten Kingdom and the Lost Horizon

Journey to the Forgotten Kingdom 丽江 (Day 1)

March 12th 2012

I was traveling with my Uncle and my cousin Grace. I remembered that the local time was about 9:30PM when we first reached 丽江 airport. As we disembark from the plane, both my uncle and grace told me that they were breathless and their breathing was quite harder than usual. Both I thought were pulling my leg, as at that point in time I do not felt breathless but just cold as the temperature in 丽江 was about 4℃.

Making our way to the conveyer belt, I caught sight of my luggage on the belt. Being impatient as usual, I chased after my luggage. But as soon felt very breathless as I stopped to lift my luggage off the belt. The distance from my position to the belt is very short, I say about 5 meters. Such a short run in Singapore could  not have rendered me breathless in such a short time.

I realized minutes later that the air in 丽江 is quite thin, as it is situated in the highlands of the 云南 province.

After realizing the environment I am in, my hyper activeness attitude had been switched off. If I were to behave so hyper actively, I will turned breathless almost instantly.

Upon exiting to the arrival area, we met the driver for our tour. He is of a 纳西 race. Build in size and tanned skin, he drove us to our hotel for the night. The hotel we stayed that night is known as the 丽江王府饭店(Wang Fu Hotel of Li Jiang). A 4 star hotel that is located inside of the 丽江古城 (li Jiang Old Town). The ancient building of the hotel gives me the feeling of being brought back in time to the Old days of 丽江.

Here are some photos:

王府 hotel lobby

Our room, the interior has a mixed of antique and modern furniture and wooden column pillars.

The corridor leading to the lobby.

 

 王府(wangfu) hotel certain is quite large in size. It consists of many rooms both on the ground and second level. The hotel has a Chinese style garden with a snooker table and a Chinese designed fish pond.

We decided to explore around the 古城 looking for a place to have our dinner. There are not many people in this part of the 古城 as there are not many stores or restaurants near our hotel. But the street lights brighten up the town giving it a comfortable feel. Here are some shots I took near our hotel.

An artist painting a shirt for her customers. And I think that the girl sitting in front of the painted shirt bears a facial appearance similar to that of my school mate.

A store filled with burnt wood paintings.

You can see from this picture that the craftsman is drawing art by carefully burning the smooth side of the wood.

The auntie carefully craft the flower pattern on the circular wood.

I do say it certainly is a nice piece of work.

A local washing some fruit by the side of the river.

Lit up streets filled with people and I happen to caught two stars in the night sky.

 

Just beautiful, the street lights are. To my surprise, there are quite a lot of dogs both stray and owned. I assume most of you think that all China Chinese eat dog meat. Apparently the people here don't. Maybe because they are of a different ethnic group than us. Just a little info, the majority of us Chinese in Singapore, China, Taiwan and HongKong are 汉族.

 As for our dinner, a small little food store called "Forever Love" caught our attention. Each of us had a bowl of 面线. Well I say the food is satisfactory to me, though very spicy. I did not have a shot of the noodles we had but here are some photos I had taken.

The food store owner;s kids. I must say, the girl on the left is quite pretty.

The food store is located at the second floor of the building. Currently the only guest are us.

Well after we had our dinner, it was already way past 23:00 hours nearing midnight. We made our way back to 王府 hotel and stopped by at a supermarket which in my opinion is very unique here are some shots I took in the supermarket.

A very unique supermarket. Every furniture in it is made of bamboo wood. The supermarket consist of two levels. The bottom level is a normal supermarket whereas the second level consist of a seating area for tea and Chinese chess or 围棋 wei qi. After that we crashed for the night and await for Day 2.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain 玉龙雪山 (Day 2)

March 13th 2012

Day 2 came as fast as I had thought. For Day 2, we had planned to visit the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The locals here regard the mountain as a scared mountain. Since the ancient times, the 纳西(na xi) people have prayed to the Jade Dragon Snow mountain in hopes for a better future or a better day. 玉龙雪山( Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) is one of the snow mountain nearest to civilization in 云南. The 纳西 people always said  "叫天，天答应。 叫地， 地答应。" after praying to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Well I do not understand what that really means but I guessed that 天 refers to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain whereas 地 refers to something else which I don't know.

From my observation on the Jade Dragon Snow mountain, it has walls almost perpendicular, peaks topped with soft white snow. Strong winds that echoed from it are so great that it could even blew you a step front or back. I advise not to wear any hats when at the submit. Here are some shots of our journey to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Morning came and the air was cold. About 10℃

Dogs are a common sight in the 古城

With the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain at the back of the city, the view was an extraordinary sight.

Peaks topped with soft white snow. This is 玉龙雪山.

We reached to the visitors center to catch a cable car ride up to the submit.

Do note that before you go up the mountain, do buy some air tanks(氧气筒 (yang qi tong) ) before hand as the ride up is really unbearable and the air at the submit is as thin as the ones I had experience at 丽江(li jiang) airport.

Going Up.

Higher and higher.

Some glaciers at the top.

Pardon my epic face as the sun is hot and the wind is strong plus the temperature is low. If you would direct your attention to my hand, that is the air tank I am talking about. Do get one of these as one person may at least use one tank. And by the way its 4056 meters high. The total height of the mountain is about 5000 plus, we did not made it to the top as we were told by our guide to not stay for a short while due to strong winds that might cause the cable cars to shut down.

Mountains stretched as far as I can see.

Well, the initial idea of snowboarding down the slopes was scratched when I saw how almost perpendicular the slopes were. But if possible it would serve a faster way down to hell the visitors center.

Splendid eh? In all my life, I never seen such a wonderful sight. It never occurred to me that on the highlands there could be mountains. It is truly what they say, mountain walls almost perpendicular and mountains on mountains. That was my very first time experiencing snow. It taste, something like ice-kachang except softer and when touched, it feels like powder. When touching it with bare hands, the after effects were absolute numbness and I have no regrets.

After we got down from the top, we heading to one of the valleys where the water flowed down from the Jade Dragon. This maybe a surprise to most of you including myself, as the waters are of blue-greenish color. It almost looked as if someone added food coloring or accidentally spilled paint in it. Here are some photos to illustrate what I meant.

Blue and Greenish in color. I was taken a back when I saw the color of this lake.

I think that is the name of the valley. Pardon for my poor Chinese as I do not know how to read it.

大牛, this alias was given to me by my friend Jitcheong. And to my astonishment, I found my brother idling near the lakes. Say hello to 牦牛.

As you can see, 牦牛always gets the girls.

After visiting the lakes of blue waters, we were scheduled for a show at a nearby theater beside the visitors center. The show was about how the people used to live in that area. It showed how many ethnic groups, coexisted together within the valleys of the mountains and their culture. Here are some photos taken by my cousin grace.

Photo courtesy by Grace

Photo courtesy by Grace

It really was a spectacular show, with the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain at the background. The second picture was how they pray to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. First by placing your hands at your fore head, then turned and faced in the direction of the Jade Dragon. Second, pray for what you wanted and lift your hands up towards the mountain and finally placed them together like how you pray to a Buddha.

The good show has ended and we proceeded with our journey to one of the ancient gardens known as 黑龙潭(Black Dragon tan?). Pardon me for my Chinese but I do not know what does tan mean. The garden used to have a large and beautiful lake to reflect its beauty. But sadly, I was told after the 四川 earthquake it diverted the water elsewhere, leaving behind a dry lake. I can almost imagine how the garden was like in its splendor days. But was brought to a disappointment when my eyes opened.

I have no idea what is this tree called but its bark is very unique to me.

Feels as though it is all dried up

Peach Blossom Tree

Peach Blossom Flower

I will be at my utmost care to not try to drown myself.

Two lion statues in the center and two creatures at both sides. There is a name for the creatures, but I apologized for I had forgotten what are they called.

Quite a big garden this is. A pity though the lake is running dry, if not I guarantee it will offer a pleasant sight to all visitors. The garden also boast a scenic view of the Jade Dragon at its background. I hope that government of 云南 (yun nan), will help to restore it back to it's glamorous days.

After a pleasant walk in 黑龙潭，we are on our way back to 古城 for our dinner. Here are some shots I took when in the car. The majority of the people in 丽江 as I had said are of the 纳西 race. From what I observed, I think that the people who lived there had a simple life, and environment are not as stressful as compared to Singapore. Majority speak the 纳西 language. I was told by our driver, that they did not learn to speak 普通话 (Chinese) until the age of 12. Here are some shots when we are on the roads somewhere in the 新城 (New Town).

Why what do you know? Even a cherry QQ made it up in the mountains.

   

After a few minutes of car ride, we got back to 古城 for a little walk. To my surprise, the town was filled with tourist, the square was filled with lively activity. People taking photos, purchasing some wood art and horse-riding?

Bitch Please?

Whats this?

Its a PIG!?!?!

Its a Pig's SKIN?!? I had never seen anything like it.

Anyone fancy an ancient ATM?

Alas, we sat down for a rest. And I noticed that fast food chains like KFC, Pizza Hut are not that popular here in 丽江 as the majority prefer restaurants to fast food or RICE to fast food, to be more precise.

Suddenly, out of nowhere came a group of people. They wore traditional 纳西 (na xi) clothing and brought with them a gong and some percussion instruments. I was further surprised that later I was taken around town in promoting peace...

Well those people in traditional clothes were something, they brought us around town banging their gongs and handled us a type of drum with two whips at the side, and told us to follow their rhythm. I did not had many shots as I was enjoying myself (making a lot noise that is), and everyone's attention was diverted to us (us meaning not just the three of us, we were joined with another tour group from 广州(guangzhou)).

After all the loud banging and attention seeking, we were brought to a restaurant known as the 纳西喜院 (na xi xi yuan). It is a restaurant whereby the theme is of a traditional 纳西 wedding. Dinner was served with entertainment. They put up a performance in showing their culture, what happens when a 纳西 boy falls in love with a 纳西 girl and later on getting married. I do apologize again for not taking any shots, but the wine is  incredibly sweet. I had lost count of how many cups I had drank and food, was pretty much to my satisfactory though some dishes I am not used to eat like steamed pork ribs. Overall I can say I liked the food and the entertainment put up was great. You seldom had dinner liked this in Singapore, where there is  entertainment when you are having dinner.

Photo courtesy by Grace

Photo courtesy by Grace

It was exciting, we even joined the performers in a dance till 9pm in the night. And that was me in the orange sweater enjoying their performance. We bid goodbye to our 丽江 tour guide and made our way back to the hotel to pack our stuff, as we are preparing to journey to the lost horizon the following day.

To Shangri-La 香格里拉 (Day 3)

March 14th 2012

On our way to the lost horizon, we stopped by the all famous 虎跳峡(Tiger Leaping Gorge) trek. The view at the gorge is like no other. Just by closing your eyes to here the water rushing down, the air blowing right at your face is a totally different experience than a beach breeze. Also the river flowing is one of the upper rivers of 长江 (chang jiang). If you want a faster route to 长江 (chang jiang), I recommend by jumping into the gorge and just follow the flow.

Words craved on this rock resembles that of those of the Tibetans.

Based on the photo, I bet it might take 30 minutes to get to the main section of 长江.

With this big rock stuck right in the middle of the river, I do not know how will the river rapids people ever get pass this.

 
Big winds, sound of gushing waters. It is truly a enlightenment feeling. As if you are either about to commit suicide or meditating. There is a flight of steps waiting for you when you are visiting this gorge, I recommend getting ready an air tank (氧气潼) as I guarantee breathless and fatigue when making your way back up, reason being due to the thin air in that atmosphere.

Once again we are back in the car and on our way to yunnan's oldest temple. The Song Zan Lin.

A mud house beside the great flight of stairs. This is where the undergraduate lamas lived till they gain the title 'Dalai' or further their studies at another temple.

How the 藏住 build their houses. The use the same mud as those used by the 纳西 except, they compressed together as shown in the above picture.

Firstly, let me apologize for not having any photos inside the monastery as photo taking is forbidden. And one important point I want to point out is, lamas with the title 'Dalai' are only awarded to those of the higher ranks, plus lamas there EAT MEAT. So if you are planning to visit these kind of monastery, please do not go and tell the lamas off that they are not suppose to eat meat. Meat is a must to eat when living in the mountains, there is an explanation given by our tour guide but I am sorry for I had forgotten what it is. 

Also to show respect to the gods there, in Singapore you point with your thumb while at there, you point it with your four fingers facing the god well keeping the thumb in place. Just like showing a lady the courtesy of letting her go first, but do keep the thumb in. (If you know what I mean here) 

Lastly, for those of you who want to study the teachings of the Buddha or just want to be a lama, you can stay in this monastery to study the scriptures of the Buddha. During your study, the Dalai lama of the temple will build a house for your accommodation, just like the ones beside the great flight of stairs. If you leave to further your studies in another temple, your mud house will be remained untouched until you came back to the temple personally and decide whether to demolish it or leave it untouched.

That is no ordinary monastery, well from my point of view that is. The sun sets and we crashed in the best hotel in the whole of shangri-la, the Banyan Tree. The exterior of the hotel does not look like a hotel. It looks more like a shangri-la themed chalet. And they don't provide you with a room, they provide a villa.

Yeap. That is the bathroom. No doors.

It consists of two levels.

Shower cabin  on the far left and a toilet bowl on the right. Go into the curtains and...

A large wardrobe behind the massive dark curtains

The living room.

A bed for two.

Snow!!!! At the front of our villa's door step.

Look at how deep it is.

I just had to try it.

You should try it to.

Entrance to our villa.

It snowed last night, filling the whole hotel premises in a blank white

Journey to the Lost Horizon 德钦 de qin (Day 4)

March 15th 2012

Its time to bid farewell to the Banyan Tree and get ready to journey to 德钦 (de qin) to catch a view of the lost horizon of 卡瓦格博 (ཁ་བ་དཀར་པོ། / Khawa Karpo ) and 梅里雪山 (སྨན་རི། / mei li snow mountains). Please be informed that not almost everyone can get the splendid view of Khawa karpo or mei li snow mountain. As it solely depends on the weather during that day, we are not very lucky that day and could barely catch a glimpse of the two mountain range.

But before we embarked on the treacherous road to 德钦 (de qin), we stopped by one of shangri-la's most famous rivers. It is the 云南三江 (Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas). This area is one of china's nature reserves.

The 1.7 million hectare site features sections of the upper reaches of three of the great rivers of Asia: the Yangtze (Jinsha), Mekong and Salween run roughly parallel, north to south, through steep gorges which, in places, are 3,000 m deep and are bordered by glaciated peaks more than 6,000 m high. The site is an epicentre of Chinese biodiversity. It is also one of the richest temperate regions of the world in terms of biodiversity.

One of the iconic views you will see at the three parallel rivers.

(Info from wikipedia, due to poor understanding of Chinese I am unable to comprehend what the tour guide said to me that day.) Please go to wikipedia for a more clearer picture of 梅里雪山meili xue shan.

Our tour guide and driver, fitting chains to the car's rear wheel.

We continued our journey up the mountain roads to 德钦 (de qin) and, also to catch a view of the lost horizon. Out of the blue came an orange bus, stuck right in front of our way. Soon we our journey came to a complete halt as the bus in front is unable to move, thus blocking the whole road.

“下车， 玩雪了。” the tour guide said, I was puzzled and was thinking "why not just overtake the bus in front?". I was proved wrong instantly as the road was only big enough for one vehicle to pass at a time.

Cars that came afterwards also got stuck with us.

Snow just kept falling.

Soon the orange bus managed to get out off the snow, and we continued to the submit of the mountain roads at about 5000 meters above sea level in hopes to catch the magnificent view of KawaKharpo. But sadly, the sky did not gave mercy on us. The whole view was covered in clouds.

On a clear day, one can appreciate the magnificent view that kawakharpo has to offer. But we are down on our luck as you can see from this photo here, it was blocked from view.

To keep an open mind, we decided to make our way down to lower section of the mountain roads hopping that the skies will have mercy on us, and at least let us have a the honor of viewing meili xue shan. Once we reached to the white shrines, our hopes were dashed.

A Buddha is sealed inside each of the white shrines along with the stuff they want to pray for e.g clothes, wheat, money etc.

Meili Xue Shan blocked from view by the clouds. We were looking forward to it.

The journey was long and tiresome. It was really very disappointing as I did not get a chance to appreciate the beauty of Kawakhrapo and Meili Xue Shan. Most of the activity in Day 4 were traveling and getting stuck midway. Time flies when you were traveling on the mountain roads. We headed to 德钦 (de qin) a nearby town in the mountains for the night.

When in 德钦 (de qin), I recommend you guys to try out the food at the  小花园酒家. They offer a variety of steamboat to choose, do note that most dishes served are mostly spicy and please refrain from ordering too many dishes as the size of each dish is much more larger than the ones served here in Singapore. E.g we can order a half-sliced fish in Singapore, in China they only sell a whole slice. As for the rice, I know in Singapore we are served a bowl of rice but over there they give you a bucket of rice and and some bowls.

Well that marks the end of Day 4. In Day 5 we will be making our way back to Shangri-la.

Going back to Shangri-La 香格里拉 (Day 5)

March 16th 2012

Staying at the Kawakharpo hotel was not as comfortable as I had imagine. They claimed to be a 4 star rated hotel, but there were no Bell boys to help my uncle, the journey from the lobby to the our hotel rooms was quite rough. And the carpeted floors in our room was stained with cigarette's ashes and butts, plus no heater installed.

Well, we were in a town located some where in the mountains. Better not expect much if you guys are planning to travel there.

Like the Jade Dragon （玉龙）, Meili （梅里）Xue Shan is also regarded as a scared mountain to the locals living in 德钦(de qin) or Tibetans. I was told that one can see India from the submit of Meili （梅里). But to go to India, one must drive through 四川 (si chuan) in order to reach the borders. 

There were no accessible mountain roads on both Meili （梅里) and KawaKharpo (卡瓦格博),as the government of 云南(yunnan) banned any climbers from climbing both mountain ranges. It was said that 17 mountain enthusiasts wanted to challenge themselves by climbing up the KawaKharpo. They seek the permission of the high lama in the village of 德钦(present state a town). The high lama warned them that scaling it was highly dangerous and the mountain will not allow it. The high lama prayed in hopes all 17 won't succeed.

The 17 mountain enthusiasts did not heed the warning the high lama had given, and proceed with the climb. The locals said that an avalanche occurred wiping all 17 of them off the north side of KawaKharpo. A search party was setup to find the 17 climbers, but shocking all 17 bodies were found at the south side of KawaKharpo. Therefore from that incident forth, the 云南(yunnan) government banned anyone from scaling it.

That was what I had been told by my tour guide. It is also on wikipedia, search KawaKharpo and under climbing history for a more details.  

I bet that story scares no one. Back to my experiences, we all got up and pack our things and prepared to leave 德钦 (de qin). To our surprise, everywhere was white, very white, like a painting been corrected with multiple correction tape or fluid. Even our car was covered in snow.

I bet even I can't drive in this situation. Its blank white.

Truck covered in snow.

Roads and Pavement covered in snow.

Everything is covered in snow.

You can barely see 梅里雪山 as its peak is blocked from view.

Why is the sky so clear behind me?

Look at how deep the snow is. It swallowed all of my shoe.

And suddenly the snow storms starts. The whole town was enveloped in mist, visibility was dropped and I could barely find my way back to the car.

Look at how the deep the snow has covered. It was way above my ankle, halfway up my calf.

Finding the car was extremely difficult, especially when its color blends in well together with the snow.

Finally we managed to get out of that little town and continued our journey on the mountain roads back to shangri-la. Based on my experience when crossing the mountain roads from 丽江 (li jiang) to Shangri-la (香格里拉), whenever you crossed to the other side of the mountain, it  will be a different weather. Example if its sunny in 丽江 (li jiang) then it might be raining or snowing in Shangri-la (香格里拉). Similarly, if you are traveling up the mountain and it is raining, it will be snowing once you are near the submit.

We were very lucky that the sky had mercy on us and gave us a nice clear weather on the way back. It was more then what I could ask for. 

Chained wheels to prevent skid on slippery roads.

Cover

Covering

Covered

Try snow drifting here and I will salute you.

Upon reaching the submit, we were stuck again. This time it was worse. Unlike the previous incident with the orange bus, the road ahead had been blocked by two cars than had crashed into each other blocking the whole road. A single lane blocked, no one can crossed over. As usual, the tour guide told us to get down and play with the snow. The blockage did not bother me as I caught some pictures which I find them interesting and of course lots of snow.

The road back to shangri-la was blocked. So as the other tour groups.

A girl laying face up on the snow.

Her friend approaches and lay right on top of her.

 

This shot to me is quite interesting. If you know what I mean.

Since the road back to shangri-la was blocked and the only option left now was to make a detour. The tour guide suggested to go straight to 维西 (wei xi) for the night and then back straight to 丽江 (li jiang). we all agreed to follow the tour guide's suggestion as it will take fastest a day for the tow truck to tow the wrecked vehicles.

So we headed back to 德钦 (de qin) and had our lunch at the usual 小花园酒家( xiao hua yuan jiu jia). After lunch we continued our journey to 维西 (wei xi), which was really a bumpy ride.

德钦 visible from the mountain roads

德钦 town.

A police check point. Traveling along the mountain roads, you may be stopped by the police for spot checks.

Suddenly, we approached a large bridge and was told by a construction worker to go by the bottom road. Upon saying the bottom road, I winded down the window and looked down. I was shocked to see another road at about 8 levels down below. We had no choice as that was our only option so we veered off course and went off road.

As you can see from the photo below, it is really off-road. All rocks, debris and a few centimeters away from falling into the river.

See what I mean. There were no barriers to prevent anything from falling over the edge.

Worse, its single lane. Yes single lane, again.

This road, it was really dangerous. It was also raining at that time we were on it. I was very afraid of a sudden land slide that might occur and swept us into the river. You can see construction vehicles in the pictures above, that was because the road we were supposed to travel was still under construction. And the off-road that we were on was not a road meant for people to used. It was closed and we were asked to sign a acknowledgement paper to say that it is none of the construction's safety officers problem, if any land slides or accidents that occur and resulted death during our journey on the off-roads.

Yes, we did sign the form and proceeded on with our trip as we do not want to waste any time. And it opened my eyes. And thought that China was a pretty well developed country, with tarmac on every road. And there I was, traveling on the off-roads, thinking whether if I will survive this treacherous trip. But luckily, I survived. For a moment, I thought something might happened along the way.

Here is some photos of our car, after some off-road travel. It looks quite tough from my point of view.

Some facts about these flowers, since it was winter over there, the locals living in the mountains grow these yellow flowers that were the sole ingredients for their local 东吧香烟 (dong ba xiang yan) dongba cigarettes. Though I do not know what these yellow flowers were called, but they were certainly beautiful.

If you were to tour 丽江 (lijiang), you will notice that the locals over there love to use the words 东吧(dongba) on their signs and everything.

And even on tarmac, it was my first time to witnessed an aftermath of a landslide. If you had never seen an aftermath of a landslide, here is a photo of us passing through a cleared landslide.

Here is another photo, where we had to wait for a mini landslide to stop before crossing over to the other side.

Rocks falling from the top. It really is interesting to see rocks and debris falling from an higher ground. I used to thought that landslides were slide down from the heavens. But in this scenario I am wrong.

Finally we reached 维西(weixi), this town is very much smaller than compared to 德钦(deqin). Once again, we were warned by the tour guide not to stay out too late as people often get drunk there and get into fights regardless if you offended them or not. There is no tourist attraction in 维西(weixi) just a small humble town and also spicy food.

Our accommodation was a one star hotel, its lobby is one of the unique kinds whereby vehicles are allowed to drive in. And I must insist, this one star hotel is far better than kawakharpo hotel in 德钦(deqin).

There is nothing much in 维西(weixi). We stayed for a day and continued our journey back to shangri-la.

Back in Shangri-La 香格里拉 (Day 6)

March 16th 2012 

  

The above shots were taken when we were leaving 维西(weixi). As I had stated above, the town has nothing much to offer. Like the usual practice, bars opened till 11pm and local stores opened till 6pm. So its goodbye 维西(weixi) and off to shangri-la.

As usual, the car ride was hell very long.Though it was long, it was our only way to get back to shangri-la. We reached shangri-la at about 15:35 hours, and had our lunch at some random food store along the streets. Which surprised me, people say that we cannot find halal food in China, but the restaurant that I had my lunch was run by a Muslim lady. Looks like a Chinese except she wears a green kerudung over her hair, like a catholic missionary. Here are some shots taken when I was in shangri-la town.

Do take note of the store's name. If you are planning to rent an winter overcoat for the snow mountain trips. A winter overcoat is a must. This store also sells the air tanks (氧气同）. Water, chocolates and sweets are important when traveling up the mountain.

After our lunch, we headed to China's first nature reserve the 普达措国家公园 (pu dacuo national park). Unlike our Bukit Timah, Sungei Buloh and Pulau Ubin, this park has Snow Mountains, a vast grass land and a lake which I think is big enough to fit our whole island. Plus, there are people living inside the park.

The locals will take their cows, goat, pigs and sheep for a walk everyday. If they are obstructing your path, just horned at them and all the four legged creatures will give way.

Snow in the park is a very common sight when you visit shangri-la during march.

Well, I must say words can't describe its' beauty. The park was huge, one does not simply go in it and walk around. It takes a day or more to complete the whole park and sightseeing places. We decided to stick with the bus, as we know that walking up the mountains was not an easy task for us city dwellers.

My camera battery went flat when I am taking photos of the grassland, if I had anticipated it, I would had brought along my spare battery which I had left it in the car. If you are into nature or sightseeing, this is definitely one of the nature reserves not to be missed when in shangri-la (香格里拉).

It took us 3 hours to complete the whole park by bus. We then make begin our journey back to 丽江(lijiang), we bid farewell to our Tibetan tour guide as he lives in shangri-la. Had to embrace oneself for a hell of a car ride.

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain became visible in the distance after 4hours of car ride. This meant we were close to 丽江.

I do not know what these shrines are made for, but they are seemed to be built by cow bones by the Tibetans.

Left another 5 more hours till we reached 丽江, the sun was setting behind us casting a shadow over this mountain.

We finally reached 丽江古城 at about 22:35 hours. We checked into our hotel, known as the yibang residence.  Dinner was at a restaurant called the 一品香(yi pin xiang). This restaurant is located beside the 幕府( mu's house) in the lijiang old town.

It was the best meal I had so far in my stay in 丽江. I recommend this restaurant if you guys are looking for something nice or scrumptious to eat.

Dishes that I recommend are:

幕府烤鸭

幕府烤鱼

Bamboo shoot rice.

I do apologize for not taking any photos as both my camera batteries were completely flat, and I just can't hold back upon sniffing in the irresistible fragrance. After the best meal, I pampered myself with a good sleep.

Free and Easy (Day 7)

March 17th 2012

Once again, we were back in 丽江古城 and it is our own free and easy day. So we went and explore the whole 古城, try food we never tried before. (I should advise not their local soya bean milk 豆花水 as it is highly concentrated)

It was 11AM, and I just got out of bed and ready to explore the remaining section of 古城 which I had not been. The temperature was exceptionally hot that day, I think the winter season is soon going to be over.

A courtyard right in front of our room.

Entrance to our room. It maintains the ancient feel just as good as the room we had in 王府 (wangfu). 

The above shows the whole map of 云南(yun nan). If you clicked on it for a close up, you will notice that there is a country called 女儿国 (girls country). You might be thinking, "Is it the one that was described in 西游记 (Journey To The West)? Whereby the whole country population is girls and nothing but girls!?!?". Well, close enough. Yes, this is the 女儿国(girls country) that was stated in the book titled "Journey To The West". But sadly, it was not as what I had initially imagined a country full of girls.

It was called 女儿国(girls country) because, in a family your father is the biggest member in the family. What your father says is final. It is the exact opposite over there in 女儿国(girls country). The mother is the biggest member in the family. If she has children, it will not be her responsibility to take care her children. It will be her husband's responsibility or her brother's. One interesting fact our driver has told us, is that in 女儿国(girls country), a girl can sleep with any guy she fancies or likes.

The advantages for practicing the above for guys is that, there will be a girl for any loner or desperate guys.( example me)
The advantages for practicing the above for girls is that, girls in 女儿国(girls country) will get to chose their male counterpart(s). And they have the final say. 

The disadvantages for practicing the above for guys is that, the girl will chose the guy and not the other way round. Plus, a heavy responsibility to look after a child if the girl you slept with gets pregnant. Even if you do not know the child is yours or not, you must look after as you had slept with her.
And sometimes even the mother does not know which is her child, for she has slept with too many guys.

Our driver told us that this kind of acts, is still practiced in 女儿国(girls country) even till this day. Though there are some families had adopted the formal way of running a family, but many living in 女儿国(girls country) are still doing their traditional way of choosing their counterpart(s).


Well they have quite a unique culture in 女儿国(girls country). Back to my exploration of the 丽江古城 (lijiang old town), I saw locals washing their laundry in the water canal that flowed through the 古城. It took me by surprise that there are still people living in this ancient city. I thought most of it were converted to bars, pub, restaurants and hotels but no. I had walked past a school located in the 古城, houses that people still lived in and even a fire station which stated "古城是我家， 保持古城靠大家".   

Locals washing their laundry in the water canal. I wonder how do the fishes stay alive in these canals?

This is the 纳西 pictographic language, used during the ancient times.

As I had stated before, dogs are a common sight in the 古城.

A restaurant where you can sign anywhere or paste any of your signature on the columns, walls and doors. Though I did not try the food in this restaurant, but judging by the crowd I saw last night when I was passing by, the food served there might be delightful. If you are planning to visit 丽江古城, do try the food in this restaurant and tell me about it.

民食香(min shi xiang) as the name implies and what I saw, I think this restaurant might be famous with the locals there.

In Day 6 of this post, I stated that we had a scrumptious, sensational, delightful, mouth-watering dinner at a restaurant called the 一品香(yi pin xiang). Here is a photo of the restaurant that we had our dinner. We loved the recommended dishes so much, that we had our Day 7 dinner at this very same restaurant. The lady boss of the restaurant is very kind, plus all of servers are waitresses. I do recommend this restaurant's food. Do order the 幕府烤鸭 and 幕府烤鱼. I guarantee that you certainly won't be regretted in ordering these two dishes.

一品香(yi pin xiang) is located right in front of 幕府(mu's house). I suggest getting a map of the 古城 before you start your exploration.

The white building you see below, is 幕府. I do not know the history behind this house neither could I enter. But judging from the exterior, my thoughts were that this house once belong to a wealthy family or a noble family with a high post in the government sector.

It reads "天雨流芳" It meant Heaven's rain flows into something?

After crossing that Heaven's gate, my uncle and cousin stopped by at a wood craving shop. Well upon looking for interesting things, I saw a silverware shop. The owner of that store creates his own products from some type of metal (Not silver, I can guarantee that). 

Here are some of his silverware products. If you fancy items like these or woodcarvings, please do try to bargain for the price. If you can't bargain do walk around as there are many other stores selling the same or similar product.

I think the owner is getting mad at me for taking photos without his permission.

As all know, China is famous for copying everything. From cars to apparels even food. I do not know if this store is a franchise or a copy, but apart from selling coffee bread (Roti John) its best selling was yogurt. So I do find this store a little funny.

I chanced upon this food street (photo below), I was quite tempted to try some of their local delight. And I went to the stalls to take a look.

I was just minding my own business, smelling the wonderful fragrance of the cooked food. When suddenly my eyes caught something moving in the baskets. This particular stall below, totally soiled my appetite. If you clicked on the photo below for a close-up, you will know what I meant. 

White worms, and black cockroaches did not stop me from trying this.( Refer to photo below) They called it the 雪山鸡(snow mountain chicken). To me, it looked mouth-watering and it is the only food that I find edible sold in that stall.

Things started to look boring to me, as most of the stores here sell either similar or same stuff. The only thing different I find were the different restaurants that served different types of dishes and the bars that served different types of drinks.

The photo below shows two promoters dressed in traditional clothing. I do not know which ethnic group does the dressing belongs to, but I dare say that the girl in front is quite a cutie. 

Beauty or Cutie is in the eyes of the beholder, so I won't blame you if you think that the girl below is not a cutie. Different people have different taste. I wonder how they walk around with all that ornaments, on her dress.

So we walked further down and found ourselves at the town square. It is called 四方街 (four side street). Basically I had no idea why it is called the four side street or four sided street.

Below is a photo of 四方街, but I cannot see why it was called 四方街. In hopes to see something interesting though, but at that point in time there was no interesting event or activity.

A girl chilling out on the 2nd floor bar.

Meow?

Some girls in traditional 纳西 clothing.

The 纳西 people believe in peace. Thus fishes are sold to tourist to be released in the river. I do not know what are these two types of fish and why they release them in the river.

A souvenir store which sells a variety of unique and unusual key chains and stuff.

After some walking, we decided to have a drink at a bar called Peach Blossom Island 桃花岛. Relaxing atmosphere, live singing, and some amusing banners. I would say that the drinks served are up to my satisfactory.

It says in yellow, "Being a Man is tough". In red, "Being a Girl is tougher than being a Man".

It reads "Guys, the upper body is their up-bringing, the lower body is the characteristic." The second sentence reads "Girls, upper body is the BAIT, lower body is a TRAP".

If you like the singer's singing or the performance, you do not clap in this particular bar. You use a wood block like the one below, and bang it on the table at the same time shouting "Good song" or "Bravo" in Chinese.

It reads " I am waiting for you in 丽江. I am waiting at the Peach Blossom Island. Thinking about you isn't for a day or two. Loving you is for an eternity. Call: 139888-75600 "

We entered the bar at 15:12 hours. At time, there are not many people in it. I believe nearing the evening period the crowd will start coming in. Suddenly, a group of ladies entered the bar and sat at the table in front of us. What caught my eyes was a beautiful lady, but sadly she is married as the girl (photo below) called her 妈妈. Sigh, why do all the pretty women I have met are taken!?!?

Though I would want to take a picture of this girl's mother, but I think it is rude to take a picture of someone's wife with the thought of fantasizing it. Well anyways it is just not right. But her daughter is fine with me, I fine her to be very beautiful. (PS "I am not a pedophile, to my friends reading this post, your imagination is just wild")

We wrote in black says "I am not your cup of tea". 

It reads " The early bird catches the worm. The early worm gets eaten by the early bird. " Moral of this phrase is, if you are a lazy worm, do not get up early.

The entrance of Peach Blossom Island.

After our drinks, we noticed that we have not explored the upper section of the 古城 which is just behind this bar. So we decided to explore the upper part of town and also, there are stores located at the upper section selling similar or the same products as the stores located at the bottom.

There was this wood carving of the nine dragons (九龍) shown below. This really caught my eyes, upon looking at this I was thinking either the artist has put in effort in hand craving this out or, he used a machine to create the 九龍. Sigh, if only my living area is big enough, I would go ahead and purchase this deco and hang it on my living area walls.

When your house is big, you ought to bring back some unique things for keepsakes.

A lady waiting for customers to patronize her silk store.

My uncle bought two wood carvings with words "舞" & "龍" from the store with the 九龍(nine-dragons). Though I do not know 舞龍 the meaning but I think it means "No dragons"? Well whatever that may mean, as we continued our stroll, I saw another lookalike! For those of you studying in the same course or campus as me, I assume you know a girl by the name of Weiting Low.

If you take a look at the photo below, I believe this lady looks very much like my school mate Weiting. The shape of her face is quite similar. With the shades on it makes her look like an exact replica of a future Weiting appearance. Judging from her cheek and smile, I reckon this lady is a well-preserved thirty-seven? Do you guys share the same views as me?  

A well-preserved 37 Weiting Low.

For most of us city dwellers living in Singapore, we rarely get the chance to appreciate the beauty of the Sakura blooming unless we travel to Japan often. Here is a close up shot of a Sakura (樱花) Tree and flower.

If you notice, Sakuras' pink colors are very concentrated. I often mistook the flower Sakura with Peach Blossom. The difference between Peach Blossom and Sakura is that, Peach Blossom's pink color are normally restricted in the center of the flower petals and white on the outside. As for Sakuras, its totally colored in pink.

The photo below is a close up of a Peach Blossom flower (桃花) and tree.

Both flowers are pretty and pleasing to my eyes. Seems like two beautiful girls in front of me to chose. Assuming you can only chose one of these flowers, which will you pick? The Peach Blossom (桃花) or the Sakura (樱花)? 

Well if you ask me, I will take both! It is not possible to take both? Think again. The photo below shows a Peach Blossom Sakura tree. With  the Sakuras on the left and the Peach Blossoms on the right. Quite a unique tree this is. I think its call 樱桃花 or 樱桃树 (Sakura, Peach Blossom tree or flower).

As we spoke to our driver on the way to airport in Day 8, he said that there is a specialist that specialize in combining both Sakuras and Peach Blossoms together. Which you will get the best of both worlds!  

As we climbed further up, we were rewarded with a paranormal view of the 古城. Of course we will be able to get a better view by entering into the Lion park, located at the highest point in the 古城. But each tickets cost about 100 RMB. So we decided to find another alternative besides the Lion park.

I managed to capture some shots outside the entrance of the Lion park.  

We did find an alternative by going to the 文昌宫 (wen chang temple). This temple is also located at east side of the highest section of the town. Though I hoped to pay a visit to temple, but sadly it was closed.

We were rewarded a spectacular view of the 古城. I thought that the whole 丽江古城 was only a tourist attraction. I was proven wrong, as unlike any other attraction, this ancient city still has people living in it. Well I was making my way up to the 文昌宫 (wen chang temple), I noticed that there is a primary school and a public basket ball court. Locals still lived in their traditional houses and they make a living by running inns, bars, restaurants, cafes and souvenir stores.

I feel that it was very interesting when I discovered that the locals living in the 古城, have a life similar to the old days, liked when my grandparents used to run a restaurant to make a living.

The entrance of 文昌宫.

Paranormal view of the 古城 outside of the temple.

In one of the earlier post in Day 3, I stated that the 藏住 build their houses by pounding mud to compress them. (Refer to a photo with a guy pounding the mud in Day 3). Whereas for the 纳西, they used the same type of soil but instead of compressing them together, they make it into bricks and build their houses from it.

A traditional way to build houses the 纳西 way.

As the sun starts to set, we made our way back to 一品香 restaurant for dinner. I must apologize for that night, I completely forgotten what we had ordered. The only drinks I remembered ordering was the 大理酒 (DaLi beer)

Well I really do not remember the dishes we had ordered, I do apologize again. The sun was soon hidden out of sight and streets started to lit up. We decided to have an early night, and we made our way back to the hotel.

Here are some photos of our room at the Yibang residence, it is a room for two but it is surprizingly big enough for 4 people to fit in.

Here is a closeup of the 氧气同 I was talking about. You can get this at a supermarket or at any stores that has them for sale.

The Lost Town of 束河古镇 (Day 8)

March 18th 2012

It was our last day in 丽江, and I can say that we had pretty much explored most of the streets in the 丽江古城. As we checked out, we asked the front desk lady if there is anything besides the 丽江古城 that is fun. She said that there is nothing much to see in the 新城 and advised us to go visit the 束河古镇. The 束河古镇 (shu he gu zhen) is called with a 镇 because it is located outside city premises.

Entrance to the 束河古镇

I think its called "Tea horse square"

Similar oriental colors found at the underside of the entrance's roof.

A little info about the horses found here in 云南. As you can see, they quite short compared to the horses we usually see at the turf club or city. They have quite a lot of hair to keep them warm during the winter seasons. Though short, these horses have stamina and are suitable for mountain routes. One horse cost about 5,000 RMB or more depending on the age and gender.

Unlike the 四方街 in 丽江古城, the one in 束河古镇 is called 四方听音. The square has a large stage built at one end, and it is surrounded by nearby stores and inns. This town's culture was said to be music and dancing. During the ancient times, people will gather right here at the 四方听音 and enjoy the performance put up by their fellow townsfolk. Everyone gets into the mood and dance around the bonfire.

Dancing and singing into the night. The locals believe that by doing this every evening, is a good form of communication. Though if I were to dance and sing in Singapore, Singaporeans will just label be as mental.  

Innocent kids smiled to my camera as I take a shot.

Well if you could make out the explanation behind the two kids, the well shown below is known as the Three well. I believe this was the town's main water source as during the ancient times, water is limited up in the mountains. Thus the townsfolk build this well to collect that was diverted from a river which flows down from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山).

An inn in the 束河古镇

I do not know what breed of dog this is, but I can't see its' eyes.

In the both the 丽江古城 and 束河古镇, there are small canals that has water flowing in it from the Jade Dragon. Till this very day, locals living in both 丽江古城 and 束河古镇 depends on this water for their daily use. Washing laundry, putting out fires and even cooling their drinks.

I tried to take a photo of that girl but sigh, my camera lens can't zoom that far.

We had lunch at a random food store. Ordered salmon on their menu, and the special thing about this salmon we ordered is that it was caught LIVE. That is correct, when we ordered the salmon dishes, a man came into the store about 35 minutes later with a fishing rod and the salmon in a bag.

Yes, our food is caught live and the salmon was soon killed to prepare our salmon soup, sashimi and fried salmon meat.

We were seated at the window seat. It was very relaxing especially when you feel the cool breeze.

Well, as it was approaching 15:00 hours. We took a cab back which is more expensive than getting here. Just another information that you might find useful, getting a cab to 束河古镇 from 丽江古城 cost 7 RMB but when cabbing back to 丽江古城, it cost around 32 RMB. So do prepare some extra cash. Some cabbies in 丽江 do not go by the meter just so you know.

Once back at the hotel's front desk, we waited for our driver to pick us up to the airport.

Photos of 丽江 hung on a wall.

Before we left, I took a photo of the front desk ladies. And in my opinion, I believe that the girl on the right looks stunning in person. I guessed that she does not look stunning here in my photo is either cause she is not photogenic, or I do not have skills for capturing beautiful ladies.

We bid farewell to the front desk ladies. And soon after a 40 minute car ride, we soon found ourselves saying farewell to our driver. What I had experienced during my trip there was something, I could not find it in Singapore.

And it occurred to me that if the whole of 云南 is mostly highlands, mountains and big gorges and valleys, how is it possible to build an airport in these kinds of terrain? But it seemed to me that they made it possible, by having a functional airport up in the mountains, my argument is invalid.  

It is possible to build an airport in the highlands. My argument is invalid.

After a 3 hour flight from 丽江 to 广州, we checked in the hotel opposite the 广州 international airport. The hotel we stayed for the night was Pullman hotel, similar to Crown Plaza hotel at Changi Airport.

Since the room we booked were unavailable, they upgraded us to a suite. Yes a suite! And its the first time I had ever stayed in a suite. Here are some photos of it.

The suite living area.

A guest toilet located near the door.

Bed for two opposite directly opposite the living area.

Living in the suite must be a dream come through for me. Never did I have the ability or capability to afford such a high-class room, with luxurious designs and an SEE-THROUGH BATHROOM with only a glass panel separating the Beds and the bathroom.

I think the bathroom is the coolest thing in this suite. If you know what I mean. 

Bathroom that is visible in the inside.

There is a sliding door to separate the living area and the rooms.

I enjoyed myself over the past 8 days in 云南, though I did not visit places like 女儿国 and 昆明 but someday, if I may get a chance. I would like to travel to places like Tibet. I do know that the Singaporean mindset of traveling overseas is to go shopping at mega-malls like the Thai-Square in Bangkok. Of course I loved to go shopping but I do not have surplus at that moment.

If anyone of you are looking for a place with a rewarding scenery, I recommend 丽江 or 香格里拉. I guarantee you a breathtaking scenery and a unique experience.

I finally managed to finished this long post. I do appreciate you, for taking your time to read this. I do think I had put in my effort though I still think that there are information that I lacked. Will try my best to blog about my experiences for you to share. I know I have not been blogging lately due to my busy schedule. But all in all, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, whoever is reading this thank you.

View of 广州 airport through our hotel's window.

Thanks,

Dennis